STOCKTON - When you grow up in Saskatchewan, Canada, you are expected to play hockey.

Ryan MacMurchy always understood that, and spent much of his youth at local rinks and on frozen ponds. He had no idea that his childhood obsession would someday make him an all-star.

MacMurchy and Thunder teammates Andy Contois and Brad Farynuk were selected to participate in the ECHL All-Star Game on Wednesday at Stockton Arena. The skills competition is Tuesday.

MacMurchy and Contois were late additions to the National Conference squad, replacing former Thunder teammates Ryan O'Marra and Jacob Micflikier, who were called up to Springfield (Mass.) of the American Hockey League. O'Marra still is on assignment with the Falcons, and Micflikier is out with a broken leg.

Farynuk also is with the Falcons, but might return to Stockton for this week's events.

The trio said they are proud to have received their first all-star assignments as professionals, and for each, the honor brings back memories of when they first picked up a hockey stick and realized they were good.

"It is pretty cool when you think about it," Contois said. "You love to play as a kid, and you never know where it's going to lead."

MacMurchy, 24, doesn't remember the exact moment he thought he might be able to make a living as a player, but hockey was the only game he and his friends cared about growing up in Regina.

"Saskatchewan might be the hockey hotbed of Canada because there's not a lot else to do there," MacMurchy said of the province that borders Montana and North Dakota.

"You always play to the point where you are almost obsessed. It's want you want to do when you grow up."

MacMurchy was with the ECHL's Elmira (N.Y.) Jackals when the Thunder acquired him in a trade. MacMurchy leads Stockton with 13 goals, and plays on the same line with Contois and center Brandon Schwartz.

"It's great we're going together because we play together," MacMurchy said. "We help each other."

Contois, 26, said he started playing around the age of five. His father, Dave Contois, supported his interest in hockey by building a rink in the backyard of their home in Marquette, Mich.

"That might sound different (in California), but it's pretty common in Michigan," Contois said. "It was great to go outside and you have a rink right there. I don't know how many hours my friends and I spent playing on it."

He said he first began to realize he was pretty good when at age 12 or 13, he was able to play against the older kids.

"I mean, there wasn't a time that I said to myself 'Hey, you're good,' " Contois said.

Contois was good enough to play at Lake Superior State and Northern Michigan universities.

He spent last season with the ECHL's Gwinnett Gladiators before he signed with the Thunder as a free agent. He leads the team with 34 points and is tied with MacMurchy for the team lead with 13 goals.

"I think one of the most exciting things is that we'll get to play in front of the home fans," Contois said. "That's what I'm looking forward to."

Farynuk, who turns 26 on Tuesday, has been back and forth between Springfield and Stockton five times this season. He said he'd like to play in the all-star game, but wasn't thinking about being an all-star or even being a pro player while growing up in Enderby, British Columbia.

He just wanted to play.

"We'd play anywhere," Farynuk said. "We'd play with a tennis ball on the basement floor until my mom pulled us away. Then I'd go to hockey practice."

He said all the practices, games and flights between cities have been worth it, and hockey has enriched his life. Farynuk earned an engineering degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York, while on a hockey scholarship.

"Hockey helped me get the degree, it was a great opportunity," Farynuk said. "This is another opportunity. It's a feather in your cap to be an all-star."